Thursday, August 30, 2007

Sizzling Corn, Roasted Salt, and “Why Didn’t I Think of That?”

Did you see that she's done something similar this week with zucchini stuffing? I wish I had seen that post before I made this - an Italian Stirfry of fresh broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and parsley. I served it with cannelini beans, and fresh sliced tomatoes.

I came across a recipe I had torn out from Sabroso! magazine, a wonderful but not really veg friendly southwestern magazine. The recipe is "Roasted Pepper-Salt." It’s simply ½ cup kosher salt and ¼ cup peppercorns roasted 5 minutes over medium heat in a dry skillet. The recipe recommends Szechuan peppercorns, which I thought I had but didn’t, so I used black peppercorns and red pepper flakes. Warning: turn on the hood vent before you begin cooking!

Grind it up when the 5 minutes are up, and sift to remove any pepper husks. The red peppercorns would have been much prettier.

I tried some on fresh tomatoes.

The chef also recommended using green chili peppercorns. Have you ever run across these? I’ve never seen them. He also says any peppercorns can be used, and the seasoning is all purpose. Use it in soups, on salads, and in breakfast scrambles. If I hadn’t inhaled the red pepper flakes so thoroughly, I might be able to give a better critique. Anyway, I thought it was interesting.

THE BEST thing I ate this week was a Hummus Spring Roll at a favorite lunch spot called Koriente. Why do we all think hummus has to go in a pita? Look at this roll – it was fabulous! The pic is from the website, but I swear what I got looked just like this.

They also brought us a special tea "on the house" because they thought they took too long to serve us. It was all of 3 minutes. A tiny handmade bulb was put into the bottom of a glass pitcher, and when the waiter poured the hot water over it, the bulb bloomed so big it filled the pitcher. It was just beautiful and smelled heavenly.

Mmm, I love Koriente! I had the Garden Handroll when I went, which is so simple and so fantastic. It might become a regular lunch spot since it's fairly close to work. And that roasted salt looks like such a neat idea. It would look pretty with pink peppercorns!

Me too Me too! (ready for the long weekend)How cool to roast your own salt! And you are so right about hummus, it's so good, it belongs on everything! I think I will have to make some over this long weekend....

oOo, that spicy noodle salad and hummus roll look positively scrumptious - oh and I am DEFINITELY ready for the long weekend; especially after my first week back to school (college), filled with work/assignments! time to relax with family :0)

I'm ready for the weekend, though it will bring me no respite :P well, no rest for the, um, wicked? But I'm not wicked, so I think that's not the quote I'm looking for.

Everything looks lovely, as usual! I've been living off the same salad lately... over and over and I don't get tired of it: tamari tempeh, greens, red onion, avocado, cilantro. Then add oil, dulse flakes and celtic sea salt. Pefection.